Notes: This funky version of Happy Birthday was dedicated to Jennifer Spencer. The Bowie intro included a brief Fly Like an Eagle jam, and Bowie's jam contained Fishin' Hole and DEG teases. YEM included a Jean Pierre tease from Trey.

First of all, the sound quality of the tape is sublime. Seriously...one of the best tapes from 1989. Sadly, the quality of the audio has one major detractor that many other lesser-sounding shows do not have: It fails to mask the slopfest that plagues the occasional 1989 Phish show.

The Ya Mar is okay, but it all mostly unravels after that. The Mike's Groove in particular is a complete mess and the Suzy is loose and sloppy. Fee contains numerous vocal flubs, and segues awkwardly into an almost-jazzy La Grange, which is interesting and is actually worth a listen. The show closes on a standard run of songs, and despite an egregious cut and some nice bass notes from Mike right before LTJP, there's not a whole lot else to say about this show.

Maybe it's a result of listening to all these 1989 shows in a row, but I'm definitely ready for the band to move into new territory in 1990. I know it's all historical context, but there's a reason the 'early days' shows aren't all in heavy rotation. It's because they're not all that great. There are some gems, but this is not one of them.

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